4 Deputies:dead Inmate Kicked, Hit

August 27, 1985|By James H. Tolpin, Staff Writer

Palm Beach County Jail inmate Mario Abraham was poked in the groin with a broom stick, punched, kicked and dragged from his cell by sheriff`s deputies five days before he died from a broken neck, four deputies testified Monday.

The testimony came during the first day of a public inquest into Abraham`s death.

The four also admitted, either on the stand or in earlier written statements, to perjuring themselves in sworn statements to the State Attorney`s Office.

One deputy said his lying was based on a ``code of honor`` that officers do not implicate other officers.

Written statements from corrections deputies Joseph Studi and Donald Ross had to be read into the court record because they did not attend the inquest.

Those two and Deputy Wendell Nygren, who was named as the most aggressive of the five deputies involved in the June 14 altercation with Abraham, could not be subpoenaed to appear without being granted immunity from prosecution, officials said.

A medical examiner ruled Abraham`s June 19 death a homicide and said the 34- year-old inmate died from complications arising from repeated blows that broke two vertabrae in his neck.

Abraham, a Haitian, was being held on traffic and petty theft charges.

Judge Michael D. Miller, who vigorously questioned many of the day`s 18 witnesses, raised his voice when informed sheriff`s records on Abraham`s medical treatment had disappeared Aug. 3 from a secure area at the jail.

``Records don`t just get up and walk away,`` Miller told jail nursing supervisor Anna Harl. After examining a set of copies made before the disappearance, Harl said one page was missing.

Miller, suggesting that a crime might be involved in the disappearance of the medical records, then ordered that 10 nurses with access to Harl`s office be subpoenaed for the inquest.

The judge also chastised deputies for only writing reports of the June 14 altercation after superiors ordered them to do so after Abraham`s death and for leaving out ``the meat of the report`` by failing to mention use of force.

Departmental rules require incident reports be written on the day of an incident, Sheriff Richard Wille said during a break in the inquest.

All testimony through noon centered on two incidents that happened to Abraham on June 12, the day he was transferred from the county stockade off Southern Boulevard to the jail on Gun Club Road.

Stockade inmates, some of whom were brought to the inquest in handcuffs, said Abraham fell several times from the top bunk of his bed.

Deputies and inmates, whose testimony conflicted, said Abraham got in a fight with another inmate. Some said Abraham was struck by either a 55-gallon garbage can or with the can`s lid. There was not agreement on where he was struck, though inmate Mitchell Dunn said it was the back of the neck.

But the most shocking testimony came at the end of the daylong session, when State Attorney David Bludworth, who left all questioning of witnesses to chief homicide prosecutor Paul Moyle, took the stand to read sworn statements from deputies Studi and Ross, both of whom were suspended with pay shortly after Abraham`s death.

The admissions were the first time deputies or any sheriff`s official admitted any wrongdoing.

Studi, 23, started the statement by admitting to lying in earlier sworn statements for fear he would lose his job, which he started only six months earlier, if he told the truth.

The deputies, he said, were called to Abraham`s cell, 122, because flooding from a toilet -- presumably Abraham`s -- was spreading throughout the corridor and into several cells. Human feces were visible in the water and on Abraham.

When Abraham refused to leave the cell, Nygren, with broomstick in hand and his green deputy`s shirt removed, entered the cell.

``Deputy Nygren struck (Abraham) several times,`` Studi said. Abraham, who was not threatening any officer, was hit with the stick three or four times in the groin and chest, Studi said.

As Nygren and Abraham grabbed at each other, Studi said he struck Abraham three or four times in the back to protect Nygren.

After Abraham fell to the floor, Studi said, a visibly upset Nygren kicked him hard three or four times. Nygren was wearing heavy black rubber boots, which he had changed into because of the wet floor.

Studi said he and Ross took Abraham to a dry cell. The deputies couldn`t get Abraham through the door so Studi said he used his foot ``to guide`` the inmate into cell 125.

All this time, Nygren was swearing profusely, Studi said.

The statement from Ross, 22, said Nygren, after poking at Abraham`s stomach and groin with the broom, exclaimed, ``I`m getting pissed.``

Nygren then hit Abraham in the back or neck, Ross said, though whether it was with hands or stick wasn`t clear from the statement.

After getting up from a fall, Nygren kicked Abraham as many as five times. With each kick, Nygren grunted, Ross said.